The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a case by former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi. He was challenging the selection of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the 2027 election.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the court dismissed the case after Mr Amaechi, who served as transport minister under the late President Muhammadu Buhari, withdrew it through his lawyer.
This happened after Atiku chose Mr Amaechi, who came second in the ADC presidential primary election held in June, to be his running mate.
Mr Amaechi's lawyer, Jibrin Okutepa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), informed the court that they had filed an application to discontinue the case after settling issues between the parties.
The lawyer asked the court to strike out the case.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik listened to the lawyer and then struck out the case as requested.
Mr Amaechi had filed the case seeking to cancel the presidential primary election held on May 25, which made Mr Abubakar the ADC candidate.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1215/2026, Mr Amaechi sued Mr Abubakar, the ADC, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as defendants.
He claimed that the primary election violated Section 77(5) and (6) of the Electoral Act, 2026; the ADC’s Constitution, 2026; and Sections 2, 2.1, and 2.2 of ADC’s Guidelines for conducting primary elections for the 2027 general elections.
He wanted the court to stop Mr Abubakar from presenting himself as the ADC’s presidential candidate for the upcoming elections.
Mr Amaechi claimed to be the rightful winner of the primary election. He also sought an order preventing INEC from recognizing Mr Abubakar as the ADC presidential candidate.
He requested the party to conduct a fresh presidential primary election that would follow the Electoral Act, 2006; Article 38.4 of the ADC constitution; and the party’s guidelines for the primary election within 14 days of the judgement.
In an affidavit signed by Mr Amaechi, he stated that he is a registered member of the ADC at Ward 8, Ubima, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, and is eligible to vote and be voted for in the general elections.
He described himself as “a graduate of English Language from the University of Port Harcourt, and also a legal practitioner.”
Mr Amaechi said he bought the party’s nomination form for the presidential primary election, was issued the form, and screened with other candidates.
He participated in the party’s primary and appointed agents and coordinators to oversee the process at the national, state, and ward levels.
He noted that on May 27, the ADC announced the final results, stating that Mr Abubakar won with 1,846,370 votes. Mr Amaechi received 504,177 votes and came second.
According to the published results, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen came third with 177,120 votes.
Mr Amaechi alleged that the entire election process went against the Electoral Act, 2026, the ADC’s constitution, 2026, and the party’s guidelines for primary elections.
He complained that the ADC did not use any membership register for the May 25 primary election, even though it is mandatory for parties to submit such a register to INEC 21 days before primaries.
Mr Amaechi said the party relied on a different procedure set out in Section 10.8(6) of its guidelines.
He added that the ADC did not apply to INEC for a certified copy of its membership register for the election.
He monitored the election at various wards in his local government.
He stated that the final result form published on May 27 was unsigned and did not have the names or signatures of the election committee members.
He said his agent’s names and signatures were missing from the form, which also lacked a date.
He wrote to the ADC's National Organising Secretary asking for the membership register used for the election.
He received a response stating that no membership register was used.
In light of this, he wrote a petition to the party’s presidential appeal committee per Section 11 of the election guidelines.
He was invited by the committee, where he presented his petition and submitted further documents.
When he received no response from the appeal committee, he wrote to the party’s national chairman, David Mark, a former Senate president, to highlight the lack of communication.
“After the National Chairman of the ADC failed to address my concerns about the presidential primary election despite my letters, I decided to file this suit,” he said.
Mr Amaechi changed his mind after being named Mr Abubakar’s running mate.
In June, the party’s spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, announced Mr Amaechi as the vice-presidential candidate after consultations with party leaders and stakeholders.
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